Columbia Sportswear in Portland Calling for Old, Worn Out Clothes for ReThreads Program

Thursday, August 17, 2017
GoLocalPDX Lifestyle Team

Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportswear in Portland is calling for old, worn-out, end of life garments or shoes for its ReThreads recycling program.

The Portland store is accepting old clothes starting now and running through September 10.

“At Columbia, we are committed to taking a holistic, life cycle approach to managing the environmental impacts of the products we make. This includes extending the life of our products and keeping these products out of landfills once they have reached the end of their wearable life,” says Columbia Sportswear on their website.

In exchange for the clothing, Columbia Sportswear will donate $1 per pound of clothing to non-profits including Children and Nature Network, American Hiking Society and National Parks Foundation.

Columbia Sportswear Store in Portland is located at 911 SW Broadway 

The Program

Garments and footwear that are dropped in ReThreads bins in each Columbia store, will be sent to a textile processing facility through I: CO, a textile recycling solutions company. 

The products are then sorted, reprocessed, reused and recycled. 

Products that are wearable find new homes through the second-hand market. Products that cannot be worn get another life in applications such as toys, artwork and cleaning cloths.